This invention relates to an aquaculture farm system and method for the cultivation, containment and rearing of various mollusks, and abalone in particular.
The worldwide demand for various forms of shellfish from aquacultured sources continues to increase as natural sources are depleted. Responding to this demand, numerous nations and businesses have undertaken attempts to meet the demand by use of land-based aquaculture and limited at-sea aquaculture farming. As the demand has continued to increase, the cost-effectiveness of these older systems has deteriorated. Contributing to the cost is that at-sea systems normally require divers to maintain and hand-feed the animals in the farm habitats. Consequently, operations are dangerous, which results in high insurance costs. Labor and other costs have also increased, resulting in the decline of profits.
Prior art systems of at-sea aquacultural employing habitats are known. An example of such a prior art system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,270, in which the habitat is suspended from a buoy and the food is introduced into the habitat by divers. Each of the habitats includes corrugated panels which are placed within a porous container. The container has an opening for insertion and removal of the panels. The habitat is raised onto a pier for both the removal of the panels to harvest abalone and for cleaning of the panels. The floating habitat is exposed to the violence of storms. In other than storm conditions, the habitat moves with the water, which results in stagnant conditions within the habitat.
Another example is the submersible abalone habitat described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,395,970. The habitat has positive buoyancy and includes a tubular body having water-impervious walls with open ends. Screened means are removably mounted across the open ends of the tubular body and a flotation means is removably attached to the tubular body without obstruction of the open ends. A tether means is attached to one of the open ends of the tubular body for tethering the body and flotation means from an anchor or weight at the bottom of the sea. An egg-crate structure includes rectangular vertical walls which provide attachment means for the abalone. The habitat is suspended less than thirty feet from the surface to permit divers to reach the habitat for feeding and inspection. The habitat is hoisted to the surface for maintenance, cleaning and culling of abalone for distribution of the abalone to additional habitats. Because of the limited space, the egg-crate structure makes it difficult to reach the cell walls for harvest of abalone.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved, efficient aquaculture farming system, method and structure for the cultivation and production of shellfish, particularly abalone.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an ocean farming system which does not require divers.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a habitat which includes removable panels configured for the growth of abalone.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are achieved by a system which includes a habitat for housing the mollusks or abalone for feeding and protection from predators and a tether for suspending the habitat above the ocean floor. The habitat includes a plurality of vertically-arranged, removable, spaced, molded panels forming cells. Some of the panels provide buoyancy. The panels include horizontal ribs where the small abalone attach and openings so that food can travel through the panel from one cell to another or the abalone can move through the habitat. The openings also permit the easy flow of water through the habitat. A feeding system employs a feed pump at the surface and a hose which is positioned by a remotely-operated vehicle or an automated vehicle to be detachably coupled to individual habitats for introducing feed into the submerged habitats.